SZABIST IHL LAW MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2012

Rules of Procedure of the Moot Court

1. Administration and General Rules

1.1 The official name of the competition is SZABIST IHL Moot Court Competition
2012 (the "Moot Court"). The SZABIST Law Society (SLS) is the official
organiser of the Moot Court. The Moot Court will be co-sponsored by the
International Committee of the Red Cross.

1.2 The official website of the Moot Court is:

http://sls.szabist.edu.pk/moot/index.html. All queries and correspondence
regarding the Moot Court must be addressed to
szabistlawsociety@szabist.edu.pk (with cc to szabistmootcourt@gmail.com)

1.3 These Rules of Procedure (Rules) shall govern the procedure of the Moot Court
and shall be binding on all participants.

1.4 The Organising Committee of the Moot Court consists of Mir Nasar Ahmad
(Chairman) and Zulekha Sakrani, Asif Ahmed Hussain and Syed Zaeem Hyder
(Members).

1.5 All students enrolled on a full time or evening basis in a program of study leading
to or equivalent to a Bachelors degree in law (LL.B) or Masters in law (LL.M), are
eligible to participate in the Moot Court.

1.6 The official working language of the Moot Court is English.

1.7 Each participating university/college/institute shall nominate only one team

consisting of three student members, plus a coach from the faculty of the
university/college/institute that they represent. The students will comprise of two
mooters and one researcher.
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1.8 The participation of faculty members, coaches and team advisors of the
participating teams may not substantially contribute to the writing of memorials
other than guidance and assistance. No faculty advisor may in any way
intervene during oral presentation. Failure to comply will result in immediate
disqualification.

1.9 The Organising Committee will arrange accommodation for teams participating
from outside Karachi for the duration of the Moot Court only. Each team
(Including teams participating from outside Karachi) shall be responsible for their
own travel to and from Karachi to their point of origin. All out station teams must
arrive in Karachi by the evening of 13 th January 2012. Further practical
information shall be sent to participating teams closer to the Moot Court.

2. Preliminary Rounds

2.1 Teams shall argue cases against each other in the preliminary round of the Moot
Court; the matching of teams will be decided by a draw of lots prior to the
commencement of the preliminary round.

2.2 During the preliminary round, each team will have the opportunity to argue both
sides; once as the prosecution and once as the defence.

2.3 Time allotted for arguments will be 12 minutes for the prosecution and 12
minutes for the defence. Speaking time will not be affected by intervention of the
judges.

2.4 Each team will be allowed an extra 3 minutes for rebuttals during the preliminary
rounds.

2.5 Only two counsels from each team shall make oral presentations during each
round and the researcher shall not be allowed to argue. The time for the
presentations shall be divided at the discretion of the Moot Court participants.

3. Semi-Final Round

3.1 The four top ranking teams from the preliminary rounds shall qualify for the
semi-final round. Criteria for selection will be the marks awarded by judges for
the oral presentations by teams during the preliminary rounds plus the marks

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 awarded by the Memorial judging panel to the Memorials submitted by each
team.

3.2 The sides to be argued by the teams and matching of teams will be decided by a
draw of lots, prior to the commencement of the semi-final rounds of competition.

3.3 During the semi-final rounds, the teams will be required to argue once; on
behalf of either prosecution or the defence depending on the lots that have been
drawn.

3.4 Each team will be allotted a total of 15 minutes to present its argument during
the semi-final round.

3.5 There will be extra time allotted to respond to the questions posed by the judges,
as necessary. 5 minutes will also be allotted for each team for rebuttal in the
semi final.

3.6 Participating teams will be required to strictly follow the time limits.

3.7 Written memorial marks will not be taken into consideration during the marking
of semi-final rounds or the final rounds. Only the marks awarded by the judges
during the oral round of presentation will be considered to select the finalists.

4. Final Round

4.1 The two top ranking teams from the semi-final rounds will be selected to compete
in the final round of the Moot Court.

4.2 The final round of the Moot Court will take place during the second session of the
final day of the competition.

4.3 The sides to be argued by the teams will be decided by a draw of lots prior to the
commencement of the final round of the Moot Court. There shall be one round of
arguments by the teams in the final round.

4.4 Each team will be permitted to speak for a total of 20 minutes during the final
round.

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4.5 There will be extra time allotted to each team, as necessary, to respond to
questions posed by judges. Each team will have 7 minutes for rebuttal in the final
round.

5. Memorials

5.1 Each participating team shall prepare both memorials for the prosecution and
defence in English which will be judged by the Memorial Judging Panel. All
teams are to submit their copies to the Organising Committee by email and
courier in accordance with Rule 5.2 below. Failure to do so will result in
disqualification from the competition.

5.2 One copy each of both memorials should be submitted by email to

szabistlawsociety@szabist.edu.pk (with cc to szabistmootcourt@gmail.com) not
later than 5pm on 10th January 2012.

5.3 Each team shall bring four copies each of both memorials in paper (hard copy)
with them to Karachi. These memorials shall be collected by the Organising
Committee on the morning of 14th January 2012.

5.4 During oral presentations, the participating teams should retain copies of their
memorials for their personal use. The copies submitted to the Organising
Committee will not be returned to the participants under any circumstances.
There will be exchange of memorials between the teams during the Moot Court.

5.5 Specifications for the memorials are as follows:

 Memorial shall not be more than 25 typed pages.

 Memorials must be typed and submitted on standard A4 size paper.
 Font and size of the text of all parts of the memorial (excluding footnotes)
must be the same and must be in either Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11
font size.
 The texts of all parts of each memorial must be double-spaced, with one inch
margin on both sides.
 The text of footnotes and headings may be single-spaced. The font size of
footnotes must be 2 points less than the text font.
 There must be double spacing between separate footnotes and between
each heading and the body text of the memorial.
 Quotations of sources outside of the memorial of fifty words or more in any
part of the memorial shall be block quoted and must be single-spaced.

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 se Title are not inclued in the 25 typed pages limit.
5.6 The Memorial shall consist of the following parts:

 Table of Contents
 Index of Authorities
 Statement of Jurisdiction
 Identification of Issues
 Statement of Facts
 Summary of Pleadings
 Pleadings
 Conclusion and/or Prayer for Relief.

6. Criteria for assessment

6.1 The assessment of the teams during the Moot Court competition shall be out of a
maximum of 100 marks, set out as follows:

 Written Memorials 25 Marks

 Appreciation of Fact and Law 25 Marks
 Advocacy (Arguments, Framing of Issues, expression and articulation, court
manner) 40 Marks
 Use of Authorities and Citations 10 Marks

6.2 The written memorials submitted by participating teams shall be evaluated by

the Memorials Judging Panel appointed by the organising committee and marks
will be awarded for them. These marks will be taken into consideration, along
with marks awarded by judges for the teams during the oral presentation made
by them, in the preliminary round of competition. The written memorial marks will
not be taken into consideration to select the teams for the semi-final and in the
final round of the Moot Court.

7. Awards and Prizes

7.1 The Moot Court Competition winners will be awarded the Winner’s Trophy and
certificates for the three participants of the team.

7.2 The Runners up team will be awarded the Runners-up Trophy and certificates.

7.3 There will be a Best Mooter prize. This prize will be awarded to the participant
who is judged to have performed best during her/his oral presentations.

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7.4 There will be a Best Memorial prize. All the memorials, which are submitted to
the Organising Committee, will be evaluated and the best memorial will be
chosen among them to award this prize.

7.5 Each participant of the Moot Court will be given a certificate of participation.

7.6 The coaches or advisers of the participating teams will not be entitled to receive
any kind of certificate or award.

8. Miscellaneous Rules

8.1 Upon completion of the competition, the Organising Committee reserves the
exclusive right to use the memorials submitted to them, as they deem
appropriate.

8.2 Participating teams should carry with them required study or reference materials
for their own use during the oral rounds of competition.

8.3 Participating teams shall be expected to maintain the proper decorum of the
courtroom during the proceedings and shall conduct themselves in a manner
befitting the legal profession.

8.4 The Organising Committee reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to take
appropriate action for any unethical, unprofessional and wrongful conduct during
the entire period of the Moot Court.

8.5 The Organising Committee's decision as regards the interpretation of the Rules
or any other matters related to the Moot Court shall be final and binding. If there
is any situation, which is not covered by these rules, the decision of the
Organising Committee shall be final.

8.6 The Organising Committee reserves the right to amend, modify or repeal any of
the Rules if so required and as they deem appropriate. Participating teams shall
receive adequate notice of any/all such amendments or modifications to the
rules.

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